---
title: "Sitecore Content Serialization configuration reference"
slug: "sitecore-content-serialization-configuration-reference"
abstract: "Configuration reference for the Sitecore Content Serialization (SCS) system."
---
# Sitecore Content Serialization configuration reference

The Sitecore Content Serialization (SCS) system uses a set of properties to determine what and how content items in a Sitecore instance are influenced by the serialization commands.

> [!note]
> The best practice is to only serialize items under the `*\Project\*` path.

## Include properties

The include properties:

| Property | Required | Valid values | Default value |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| name | Yes | String | None |
| path | Yes | String | None |
| scope | No | SingleItem, ItemAndChildren, ItemAndDescendants, and DescendantsOnly. | ItemAndDescendants |
| database | No | master | master |
| maxRelativePathLength | No | Number | 130 |
| allowedPushOperations | No | CreateOnly, CreateAndUpdate, and CreateUpdateAndDelete | CreateUpdateAndDelete |

> [!note]
> Duplicate item names on the same level are not supported by the CLI, even if such items are under ignored nodes.

## Scope

The `scope` property configures *what* content items are influenced:

| Scope | Content items influenced |
| --- | --- |
| SingleItem | Only the content item. |
| ItemAndChildren | The content item and its immediate children. |
| ItemAndDescendants | The content item and all its descendants. |
| DescendantsOnly | Only the descendants of the content item. |
| Ignored | All children and descendants are ignored except those previously matched.ImportantOnly valid in rules. Not valid in includes. |

## Allowed push operations

The `allowedPushOperations` property configures *how* content items can be influenced when pushed to your Sitecore instance:

| Content item in file system? | Content item in instance? | CreateOnly | CreateAndUpdate | CreateUpdateAndDelete |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Yes | No | Create item | Create item | Create item |
| Yes | Yes | Ignore item | Update item | Update item |
| No | Yes | Ignore item | Ignore item | Delete item |

## Rules

The rule properties:

| Property | Required | Allowed values | Default value |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| path | Yes | String | None |
| scope | Yes | Ignored, SingleItem, ItemAndChildren, and ItemAndDescendants | None |
| alias | No | String | None |
| allowedPushOperations | No | CreateOnly, CreateAndUpdate, and CreateUpdateAndDelete | Inherited from parent |